Halo 2 Xbox
Halo 2 Image
Metascore
95 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 91 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 782 Ratings

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  • Summary: The Covenant alien race threatens to destroy all humankind, and the only thing standing in its way is Master Chief, a genetically enhanced supersoldier. Master Chief returns in Halo 2, which features new vehicles, weapons, environments, and more. This time, you can interact with your environment, wield two weapons at the same time, board opponents' vehicles, and even switch sides to play the role of a Covenant Elite. Halo 2 also supports broadband multiplayer action via Xbox Live. … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 91
  3. Negative: 0 out of 91
  1. Xbox Nation Magazine
    100
    Microsoft and Bungie have created a gigantic bell that sounds like thunder and reverberates with a fury worthy of a gale-force hurricane. It's not perfect, but get in front of it, and wonderful things - wonderful destructive things - are bound to happen. [Dec 2004, p.72]
  2. GMR Magazine
    100
    The digital surround sound is phenomenal (and the voice-acting peerless), and players with a good A/V system will enjoy hearing enemies approach from all sides due to the sharp positional sound.
  3. NTSC-uk
    80
    No single level in Halo 2 is as good as The Silent Cartographer (though the second level does come close), and there are moments that are just as repetitive and lazy as The Library.
  4. Firing Squad
    70
    Awfully flat and mediocre. The plot is labyrinthine, missions run on rails through an endless stream of lookalike corridors, action is strictly of the repetitive shoot-everything-that-moves school of design, and the art department at Bungie clearly should have tried coloring with more than one or two of the crayons in the box.

See all 91 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 344 out of 443
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 443
  3. Negative: 51 out of 443
  1. wesker2012
    10
    Probably my favorite war shooter multiplayer game. Had so much fun with this one. One of the best multiplayers ever.
  2. potatoes351
    8
    Halo: Combat Evolved was always going to hard to follow up and Halo 2 almost manages it. The sprawling environments return, so do the covenant, so does the flood in fact so does everything. It feels like a copy and paste at times with very few gameplay changes and very few variations in environment. However what it does well is it brings the intergalactic war well and truly home and turns up the epicness to 11. Invading giant mobile covenant bases, assaulting a hanging city before it falls into the depths below and a story to bonkers that you get far too in over your head and it feels right! Halo 2 is by no means as good as Halo:CE but it damn well comes close.… Expand
  3. EricS.
    7
    If this was just a review of the multiplayer, I would give it a 10/10. However, since there is also a singleplayer component, it really brings down the quality of the entire product. The story, while not as good overall as the first game, had some moments that were superior. For example, I really liked how things were seen from the Covenant perspective. The Arbiter is a much more interesting and deep character than the master chief, who people just like for being "kewl." He is your stereotypical heroic super-soldier whose dialogue consists of un-original one-liners. I also agree with those who thought the ending was disappointing. Bungie doesn… Expand
  4. C.T.
    1
    What a waste of 3 years, we now have a new version of Unreal Tournament 2004, that's about it. The look and feel has now changed, and the first thing I can think of is...where's my Halo ONE disk!… Expand

See all 443 User Reviews